Door-check.



W. W. MOREY.

DOOR CHECK.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 9,1908.

925,821 v Patented June 22, 1909.

ms NORRIS Pz'rlms co.. WASNING:FONI o. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICE.

WORTHIE W. MOREY, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO.

DOOR-CHECK.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Wonrrnn W. MoRnY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Checks, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to the improvement of door springs and checks andhas particular relation to attachments therefor.

The objects of my invention are to provide a door check and springconstruction of that class which embodies mechanism for regulating orretarding movement of the door, with improved means for automaticallylatching the door in an open position and for releasing said latch whenit is desired to close the door; to provide improved means forautomatically releasing the door and closing the same in case of fireand to produce other improvements the details of which will be morefully pointed out hereinafter. These objects I accomplish in the mannerillustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a view in elevation of my improved door check, Fig. 2 is avertical section on line xx of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a lan view, Fig. 4 istransverse section on ine l/J of Fig. 2, Fig. 5 is a detail sectionalview on line aa of Fig. 1, Fig. 6 is a central vertical section of myapparatus showing the construction and arrangement of the parts of thesame as adapted for application to wooden doors and doors other thanfire doors, and, Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a locking spring platewhich I employ in the manner hereinafter described.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In carrying out my invention, I employ the usual vertical door checkcasing 1, which in its lower end may communicate with the usualhorizontal casing section or cylinder 2. The upper end of the casing 1is provided with a cap 3 and above this cap I provide a toothed wheel 4,the latter having a hollow central stem 4 which extends downward througha central opening in the cap 3. Passing loosely through the center ofthe Wheel 4 and through its stem 4, is the usual vertical shaft 5. Abovethe wheel 4 the shaft passes eccentrically through and is connected Witha cam-like collar 6.

Patented June 22, 1909.

Serial No. 442,730.

Loosely mounted on the collar 6 is the central portion of a plate 7, thelatter having formed therewith on its upper side an inclined curvedtrack segment or cam projection 8 which near its higher end portion isformed with an upper side notch or recess 8. The plate 7 has connectedwith one side thereof one end of an outwardly and thence downwardly andagain inwardly extending catch member 9, the latter extending betweenparallel guide projections 1 which are formed in the body of thecylinder 1 and ex tend upwardly from one side thereof. hen the door isin the closed position and the parts are as illustrated in Fig. 2 of thedrawing, the lower end of the catch member 9 is in contact with theouter vertical surface of a plate lug or bracket 10 which is secured tothe casing 1.

Between the plate 7 and the toothed wheel 4 is interposed a coiledspring 11 which normally holds the plate 7 in the elevated positionshown in Figs. 1 and 2. Below the cap 3 the hollow stem of the wheel 4has connected therewith one end of a coiled spring 4, the remaining endof which is connected with the inner wall of the casing 1.

With the upper squared end of the shaft 5 is connected one end of ahorizontal operating arm 12 which when the casing 1 is con nected withthe door, is jointedly connected in the usual or any desired manner withthe door frame. IVithin a bifurcated lug 12 on one side of the arm 12,is pivoted a depending pawl 13 the lower end of said pawl when the dooris in the closed position, be ing in contact with the upper side of theplate 7 at the base of its track segment 8. The upper end of the pawlengages an edge lip of a retaining bar 14 which lies length wise uponthe upper side of the arm 12 and which has its inner end engaging anangular projection or lug 15 on the upper side and inner end portion ofsaid arm 12. The bar 14 is in the nature of a spring bar and asindicated more clearly in Fig. '7 of the draw ing, has its outwardlyextending portion normally bent upward from its inner end portion. Inplacing this bar in position on the arm 12, however, said inner endportion is first engaged with the hook projection 15 and its upwardlyextending outer portion is then pressed downward on to the arm 12, in

which position it is held by means of a bar formed of readily iusiblemetal which crosses the bar 14 diagonally and has its ends engaged inhook projections 17 which rise from the arm 12.

18 represents an angular pawl bar which in. its upper portion isconnected with the underside of the arm 12 and which has its lowerhorizontal termination in engagement with the teeth of the wheel 4.

The construction which I have tons far described is particularlyintended for use in connection with metal or fire doors and theoperation thereof is substantially as follows: Assumin that the door towhich the casing is attached is in its closed position and th parts aretherefore in the positions indicate in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, itwill be understood that when the door is moved manually to the openposition, the lower end of the pawl 13 will not only travel upward onthe inclined track 8, but that through said traveling contact with saidinclined track, the plate 7 will be depressed and the spring 8compressor It is obvious that when the lower end of the pawl drops intothe notch 8 and which occurs when the door has been opened to apredetermined degree, the contact of said pawl with the shoulder formedby the notch will operate to hold the door in the open position. It willalso be understood that when the plate 7 is depressed as described, thelower end of the catch member 9 will assume a lower point of contactwith the projection 10 and through the movement of the door and theengagement of the pawl bar 18 with the toothed wheel 4, a ro tarymovement will be imparted to the hollow stem 1 of said wheel at, withthe result that the spring 1 will be wound or placed under tension. Inorder to close the door manually, it is first necessary to extend theopening movement of the door slightly until the pawl 13 is in contactwith the higher terminal portion of the track 8, which through theincreased depression imparted to the plate 7, in conjunction with thelateral movement of said plate imparted by the rotation of the cammember 6, not only lowers the catch member 9, but places the same underspring tension and results in the lower end of said catchmemherspringing into engagement with the underside of the projection 10,thereby latching the plate 7 in the depressed position. The door nowbeing released, it is obvious that through the reaction of the spring 4it will return to the closed position, the pawl 13 riding over the notch8. Assuming now that the door has been left in an open position and thata fire occurs in the building adjacent to said door, the heat generatedfrom the fire will serve to fuse the bar 16, resulting in an upwardspringing movement of the bar 1 1 and a consequent disengagement of thepawl 13 from the notch 16 1 8 of the track segment 8 and permitting thedoor to close automatically through action of the spring.

In Fig. 6 of the drawing, I have shown a slightly modified constructionof my device, which is adapted for use 011 ordinary wood doors or doorswhich are not constructed or adapted to resist fire. In this latterconstruction, l omit the pivoted pawl 13 and the bars 14 and 16 andlocate the cam collar 6 and track plate 7 within the casing 1 and helowthe spring 1 In the construction shown in Fig. 6, the casing 1 isprovided with a side lug 10 corresponding with the projection 10 shownin 2 of the drawing and the catch member 9 carried by the depressihleand laterally movahle plate 7 extends outward through an opening 1 inthe wall of the casing 1. ln lieu of the pawl 13 heretofore described, Iprovide a pawl arm 18 one end of which is aflixed to the shaft 5 and theremaining downturned end of which is adapt ed to contact with the upperside of the plate 7 or its track segment 8. It is obvious that theoperation of this slightly modified mechanism, will be substantially thesame as that illustrated in the remaining figures of the drawing, withthe exception that the depression and latching of the plate 7 would heeffected by the p I wl arm 13 instead of by the pivoted pawl 13. It willbe understood that the operation of closing the door when the mechanismshown in said modification is employed, would he the same as thatheretofore descri c ed for closing the door manually.

From the construction and operation herein set forth, it will readily beunderstood that a comparatively simple and inexpensive although positivemechanism is provided whereby a door may be automatically locked orlatched in a prdetermined open position and that the construction shownin Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, will he of great utility when used ihconnection with fire doors and buildings, in case such doors areaccidentally left open.

What I claim, is: g

1. In a door closer and check, the combi nation with a casing adapted tohe fixed to a door, of a shaft in the casing, a door frame connectingarm on the shaft, means for positively holding said door in an openposition and means controlled by the movement of said arm for releasingsaid door.

2. in a door closer and check, the combination with a casing adapted tohe aflixed to a door, a shaft in the casing, and a door frame connectingarm on the shaft, of means controlled by the movement of said arm forautomatically locking a door in an open position, means forautomatically releasing the door by imparting an additional openingmovement thereto, and a spring for closing said door.

3. In a door closer and check the combination with a door, a casing, ashaft therein, a door frame connecting arm on the shaft, and meanscarried by said arm adapted to hold the door in an open position, of afusible body adapted when fused to release said door holding means, andmeans normally exerting a closing action on said door.

4. In a door closer and check, the combination with a casing, a shafttherein, a spring for closing the door, a plate about said shaft havinga recess therein, a door frame connecting arm and a pawl carried by saidarm adapted when in engagement with said plate recess to hold the doorin an open position, of

i a fusible body adapted when fused to release the pawl from the platerecess.

5. In a door closer and check, the combination with a casing, a shafttherein, a spring for closing the door, a spring actuated plate aboutsaid shaft having an inclined track segment thereon, and a recess insaid track segment near its higher end, a door frame connecting arm onsaid shaft, and a pawl carried by said arm and adapted when inengagement with said track recess to hold the door in an open position,of a fusible body adapted when fused to release the pawl from saidrecess.

6. In a door closer and check, the combination with a casing, a shafttherein, a spring for closing the door, a toothed wheel operativelyconnected with said spring and loose on said shaft, and a pawl armconnecting said toothed wheel with said door frame connecting arm, of aspring supported plate having an inclined track segment thereon, thelatter provided with a recess, a catch member projecting from saidplate, a locking device adapted to travel up said inclined track andengage said track recess when the door is opened, said catch memberadapted to engage a casing projection when said locking device is movedbeyond the track recess.

7. In a door closer and check, the combination with a casing having aprojection and adapted to be affixed to a door, a shaft in said casing,a door frame connecting arm on the shaft and a spring for closing thedoor, of a spring actuated depressible plate on the shaft having aninclined track segment provided with a recess, a catch member carried bythe plate, a pawl on the door connecting arm adapted to travel on saidplate track, and means for imparting a lateral movement to said plate asthe same is depressed.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

l/VORTHIE W. MOREY.

